Senior Year
by shuisfull
Summary: After High School Musical 2 Troy and Gabriella start their senior year trying to make it work.
1. Chapter 1

'A bittersweet summer comes to an end,' Gabriella Montez thought to herself as she lay on the floor of her balcony, staring at the stars. Bittersweet was the perfect word to describe it. Her boyfriend of six months, Troy Bolton, had become such a jerk by July that she could barely stand the sight of him. Thankfully, Troy realized what a tool he was before it was too late. Troy felt so guilty that he spent the rest of the summer making it up to her and their friends. He did little things, like leaving a rose in her locker at work and wearing a necklace that matched her "T" one but with a "G" instead. Tonight, he had cooked Gabriella and her mom dinner and while it was nowhere near as good as Zeke's cooking, he tried so hard and put so much love in to his lasagna that she had no problem choking down his food.

School was starting tomorrow and she would finally be a senior. As excited as she was, she was also afraid. This was the year of college applications, competing for scholarships, meetings with admissions officers and SATs one last time for good measure. Not that her SAT scores were bad, far from it. She just wanted to play it safe.

"Hey, Gabs!" she heard someone hiss from her backyard. She went to the railing and saw Troy climbing up to join her.

"Hey, Wildcat!" Troy hoisted himself over the railing and sat next to her. "Thanks so much for making Mom and me dinner tonight."

"Thanks for not hurling. I could barely eat it and I made it!" They laughed and laid next to each other, looking up at the stars.

"It wasn't that bad," she lied. She snuggled against Troy's chest and pointed up, saying, "Look, there's the Big Dipper!"

"Where's the Little Dipper?" he asked, wrapping her up in his arms.

"Um…" she continued to point at the sky, drawing an invisible line with her index finger. "Right…there!"

"Excited about tomorrow?"

"Yes and no."

"What do you mean?"

Gabriella sighed. She was afraid that he would think she was stupid for saying it but she knew that he wouldn't leave her alone until she told him. "I'm excited for the Scholastic Decathlon and Drama Club but I'm afraid that I won't have any classes with you or that we'll be too busy to spend time together and drift apart again." She sat up and kneeled on the floor as a tear slid down her soft cheek.

"Whoa, Gabs, it'll be okay." Troy sat up and took her into his arms. "I know I was such an ass this summer and I will never stop asking for you to forgive me, but Gabriella, I will always find time for you. I promise you. And if we don't have any classes together, then we'll have Drama Club."

"Thanks, Troy." They kissed, softly at first but soon the urgency to it caused Gabriella to pull away. "I…um…I should go to bed, Troy. It's really late." It was late, Troy's digital watch read 1:27 AM. But that wasn't why she was asking him to go. It was because if they didn't stop soon, she wouldn't be able to stop herself from going further.

Troy nodded. He was in the same position as she was. They loved each other but Gabriella wasn't ready to have sleep with him yet and Troy didn't think he deserved it after how he had acted. He stood up and climbed over the edge of the balcony. "Night, Gabs."

"Night, Troy." She leaned over the edge and kissed him one last time, went into her room and went to bed.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Troy was in Gabriella's driveway in the truck he and his father had rebuilt together. Gabriella had planned on taking the bus but Troy had talked to Mrs. Montez and had gotten permission to drive her this year.

Gabriella came tearing out the door, convinced that she would miss the bus if she was a second later, and practically ran into Troy.

"What are you doing here? You're going to be late!" she said, getting more and more flustered by the second.

"Relax, babe, your mom said I could drive you this year," he told her, rubbing her shoulders in an attempt to calm her.

"Really?" she asked as she looked back at her door. Mrs. Montez was locking the door behind her as she was leaving for work.

"Gabby, get in the truck and calm down! You'll have a great day, just relax!" Mrs. Montez instructed her daughter. "Oh, I forgot to tell you that I have to go out of town next week, so see if Taylor or Kelsi can stay with you. Have a good day!"

"Bye, Mom!" Gabriella climbed into the truck and Troy drove them to school. Gabriella sat in silence, oblivious to Troy's feeble attempts at conversation.

"Gabriella? Are you even there?" Troy asked as he pulled into the parking lot of East High.

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry, Troy. It's just that I'm dreading this school year. What college I go to depends on this year."

"Same for me, too, Gabs. Schools only care about what happens this season for me."

Troy parked the truck and they walked in together. "We've got to go to the cafeteria to pick up our schedules," he said, taking her hand and leading her off in the right direction. "What APs are you taking this year?"

"Calculus, chemistry, physics, history and English. My only elective is drama… no study halls for me this year," Gabriella said rather glumly as she and Troy joined the long line to get their schedules. The line was moving pretty fast and after only a few moments Coach Bolton handed them their schedules. They went to their lockers, deposited their belongings and made their way to drama with Ms. Darbus.

"Ah! Troy! Gabriella! I am so pleased that you two will be continuing your exploration of the world of the theater!" They shared a pained look, both thinking how this was the only elective that fit into both of their schedules. The desks were grouped in pairs so Troy and Gabriella grabbed desks together near the back. They sat waiting for class to begin, Troy twirling the ring on Gabriella's right ring finger around.

"This is pretty," Troy said. It really was a beautiful ring. It was silver or white gold with an oval shaped sapphire in the center. On either side of the sapphire were six small diamonds. He had never seen her wearing it before.

"Thanks." Gabriella pulled her hands away from him and placed them in her lap. Troy looked into the now cloudy, chocolate eyes that were avoiding his gaze.

"Brie?" he asked gently.

Her eyes snapped up. "Please don't call me that. Ever."

"Gabs, what's wrong?" He spoke softly since people were starting to filter in.

"It's just…" she sighed, "it's the last birthday present Dad gave me before he died." A tear slipped down her cheek. "He died four years ago tomorrow."

Troy mentally slapped himself. In the nine months that he had known her, Gabriella seldom spoke of her father. Troy had only seen two photographs of him in her house, both of which were in her room. One was of her parents on their wedding day: the other was of just her and her father sitting on a porch swing eating ice cream. He still didn't know how he had died.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know, Gabby."

"I know. It's not your fault, Troy." She looked up to see Taylor and Chad walking in, followed by the rest of the gang. "Do you want to meet at our special place during lunch?"

"Sure, whatever I need." She reached across the desk again and gave his hand a squeeze as Ms. Darbus began calling roll.


End file.
